Many people are using non-nutritive sweeteners as replacements for sugar in order to reduce their intake of calories. The replacement of sugar with a non-nutritive sweetener, however, removes the functionality of sugar that is essential for many recipes. In many applications, sugar provides additional functionality besides sweetness. For example, some of the functions of sugar include: interaction with molecules of protein or starch during the baking and cooking process; action as a tenderizer by absorbing water and inhibiting flour gluten development, as well as by delaying starch gelatinization; incorporation of air into shortening in the creaming process; caramelization under heat to provide cooked and baked foods with a pleasing flavor, color and aroma; acceleration of the growth of yeast by providing nourishment for it; a whipping aid to stabilize beaten egg foams; delaying the coagulation of egg proteins in custards; regulating the gelling of fruit jellies and preserves; helping to prevent spoilage of jellies and preserves; improving the appearance and tenderness of canned fruits; delaying discoloration of the surface of frozen fresh fruits; enabling a wide variety of candies through varying degrees of recrystallization; controlling the reformation of crystals through inversion (i.e. breakdown to fructose and glucose); and enhancing the smoothness and flavor of ice cream.
Further, the replacement of sugar with a non-nutritive sweetener and carrier requires expensive ingredients. For example, a common carrier for sugar replacement products is erythritol. However, this ingredient is many times more costly than sugar. Formulators cannot freely substitute erythritol for sugar, because it prices the resulting food product out of the competitive range.
Another drawback with high potency sweeteners is that they are often not dispersed evenly. When highly concentrated sweeteners are incorporated into a food recipe, it is difficult to mix them thoroughly and evenly. Blends of ingredients including high potency sweeteners can have clumps of high potency sweetener in the mix, which taste strong and bitter.
If sugar is replaced with another sweetener, the ingredient list on food products must be amended to remove sugar and add the sweetener, in order to reflect the ingredients in the sweetener.
Workplace safety and unacceptable production losses due to dust are also issues. In particular, when utilizing high potency sweeteners in a powdered form, there is the problem with escaping dust coating the machinery and getting into operators' throats, causing irritation and potential workplace safety issues. The loss of powdered sweetener in the form of dust can be costly, since it is so expensive. Typically, such powdered sweeteners are the most expensive ingredients and can cost hundreds of dollars per kilogram.